Ever since iPhoneOS (now iOS) has been released, there's an old fight going on about how multitasking should work on personal computers, and more specially what should happen to applications which are put in the background. Some advocate that they should be dipped in virtual liquid nitrogen and stop doing anything, like on iOS, which others advocate that they should continue to run in the background, like on desktop OSs. What about putting a little more flexibility in there?

Frozen tasks are not multitasking. Multitasking is multiple running programs. If they are not getting CPU time its not multitasking.

Well, since Apple have decided to call the iOS task switcher multitasking ( http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/multitasking.html ), we are now forced to include in multitasking the act of holding several processes in memory at once, even if they do not receive CPU time.

"Frozen tasks are not multitasking. Multitasking is multiple running programs. If they are not getting CPU time its not multitasking.

Well, since Apple have decided to call the iOS task switcher multitasking... "

Well, since MinTruth decided to call war peace and slavery freedom...

What iOS usually does is called task-switching, not multitasking. iOS has very limited support for multitasking, to complete a download, for example. However, if I load a computer algebra system (say) onto an iPad, I wouldn't be able to start a long computation and let it go for a half hour while in the meantime I read email or other things. Because of this, the iPad will not substitute for a PC in its current form.

I understand that Apple imposes this limitation for reasons that are important to battery life, etc., but that doesn't change the fact that it isn't multitasking. Since WebOS, Windows Mobile, and now Playbook came out with real multitasking, making Apple look kind of, you know, Stone Age, Apple's solution has been to point to a task switcher UI and say, "Look! multitasking!" No, it isn't.

Whatever we thing, they will one day be as powerful than our today's PC. And one other day they will surpass them.

You do realize that PCs will also continue to grow more powerful, and without the size and power constraints of mobile devices, they will continue to be more powerful than the equivalent mobile device. Will they pass today's PCs? Sure, will they pass the PCs of the future? I doubt it.